"Germany will never, never, ever win victory in Moscow!"
With this inspiring slogan, Stalin ended his radio speech.
On the surface, Stalin sounded firmer than anyone else in his speech and believed more than anyone else that the German army would eventually fail in Moscow.
But what about the reality? He was so panicked!
The shortcomings of the multi-faceted cooperation with Germany back then have become more and more obvious now. The political achievements he created in the Soviet-German cooperation have now been basically returned to the German hands intact.
More and more intelligence is showing that the Soviet-German cooperation was just a scheme under Reinhardt from the beginning to the end, and it was an out-and-out conspiracy.
It's just that Stalin couldn't figure out how Reinhardt could do it. He had such foresight 18 years ago and guessed that they would be able to defeat Poland, then France, then Britain, and finally turn around to deal with the Soviet Union.
This is no longer a category that common sense can understand.
If Reinhard really had this miraculous ability, then this battle... would really be unwinnable!
The occupied areas of Poland changed hands, the Kiev Industrial Zone fell, the Minsk Industrial Zone fell, Smolensk, the gateway to Moscow, fell, German tanks drove straight into the hinterland of the Soviet Union, and German trains transported strategic materials unimpeded...
Today, these problems need to be solved by Stalin, the leader and the initiator of Soviet-German cooperation. These include how to restore production to the industrial system that was on the verge of collapse due to the fall of important industrial areas, including how to make Germany invincible in the "German War"
"The car" stopped, including stabilizing Stalin's crumbling defense line, including continuing to maintain his own dominance that was increasingly questioned.
When he first cooperated with the Germans, Stalin had to bite the bullet.
At that time, his unit had just lost the battle, and Tukhachevsky shifted the responsibility entirely to himself. If he hadn't hoped that cooperation with Germany could restore some of his domestic image and leave a good impression on Lenin,
How could Stalin easily accept the olive branch extended by Reinhardt?
Fortunately, the city named after Lenin was immediately captured by the German army. Moscow, where Stalin himself was located, was also in danger.
All of this seems to be closely related to the tricks and plans of the Germans in cooperation.
However, the previous cooperation was obviously very effective. At least it gave the Soviet industry a chance to take off, and it also really improved the poor domestic transportation situation.
18 years ago, that was exactly 18 years ago!
Who would have thought 18 years ago that today, we would be wary of a Germany that everyone thought would never recover.
Who would have thought that Germany, being forced so hard by France, could grit its teeth and develop its army, only to turn around and slap France to death!
When the German army fought against France, the cards they had were already bad to the crotch, and in the end... they won!
At that time, Germany was not as full of subordinates as it is now, and its allies were everywhere.
The German army can be said to be a real one-man army, and it smashed the British, French and three-nation coalition forces!
Then, Germany's allies grew more and more from then on, and the allied political groups formed by Germany became larger and larger. Even the League of Nations, which was once the vanguard of anti-Germany, has now become a flag of Germany.
Then, Stalin's plan to seize the last opportunity and take advantage of the Anglo-German war to make a sneak attack failed.
So, the next terrible scene happened.
On the northern front, Voroshilov had completely given up hope in the defense of Leningrad's vast periphery.
There are roads suitable for tanks, excellent logistical supplies, more detailed battle maps than the Soviet troops fighting on the mainland, and well-trained and well-equipped elite troops. In addition, the Germans also brought a large number of Allied troops
, especially the Finnish Defense Forces, which once gave the famous Soviet general Timoshenko a headache.
Froshilov really didn't think that he could resist it as his hands were already exhausted due to the attack orders and he had not received enough additional troops.
The first action he chose now was to urgently mobilize millions of Leningrad residents and build three lines of defense around Leningrad day and night. The outermost one was centered on Luga City and started on the west bank of Lake Ilmen in the south.
Shimsk stretches along the Luga River and ends at Kingisepp, the outlet of the Luga River in the north. The Luga defense line is about 300 kilometers long, and 4 infantry divisions and 3 militia divisions are deployed on this defense line.
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Considering that the offensive capability and equipment level of the Finnish army in the northern direction was weaker than the German army rushing towards them, Voroshilov transferred 6 divisions and 1 brigade from the Northern Front Army that originally faced off against the Finnish army to strengthen Luga
The defense deployed by the German army on the river front line.
After completing these tasks, Froshilov called the commander of a main division garrisoned in Daugavpils and asked him to hold the West Dvina River on the opposite side no matter what.
Because once the German army captures the city of Daugavpils, the Pskov-Leningrad line will be completely exposed to the German army due to the loss of natural barriers. In that case, the next war will start under the city of Leningrad.
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Of course, Froshilov did not expect Daugavpils to be able to hold it at all. He just hoped that his reminders and orders would allow an infantry division stationed there to hold on for a longer period of time to prepare for the defense of Leningrad.
Buy more time.
This is not enough!
"Send a telegram to Comrade Stalin and tell him that my point of view is that if possible, I hope to stop the war with Germany. It seems that our hasty attack on Germany was not a good decision."
After the husband paused for a few seconds, he finally continued to speak to his staff officer and finished the second half of the sentence: "Let me put it bluntly, I am not sure about the defensive battle of Leningrad. On the contrary, I am actually more interested in the defensive battle than in the war.
Hopefully our diplomats will be able to end this war at the negotiating table."
"Comrade Commander..." After hearing Froshilov's words, the staff officer was stunned subconsciously, then swallowed his saliva, and reminded in a low voice: "If you are so angry with Moscow and accuse the headquarters of the wrong decision to attack, you can
If it’s not good, you’ll have to go to a military court…”
"It doesn't matter." After hearing the kind reminder from his staff, Froshilov just waved his hand with a wry smile: "Rather than wait for the Germans to come over, occupy Leningrad, and take me to their prisoner of war camp for interrogation.
It would be better for me to go to a domestic military court."
As the commander-in-chief of the Soviet army in the north, Froshilov even lost hope of victory. It is estimated that not many people in the Soviet army can continue to be optimistic about this battle.
Instead of waiting in despair for the arrival of the Germans, it is better to tell the truth and report the situation on the front line to Moscow. Even if there is only a glimmer of hope, no one in the front line command will want to continue fighting with Germany and the Allied forces.